The first IFFHS WORLD’S BEST TOPGOALSCORER ranking 2015 (1 .1.2015 to 28.2.2015) was topped by Argentina player Gustavo Bou with 6 goals for Racing Club de Avellaneda in Copa Libertadores. Bou made a brilliant start by scoring two hat tricks in his first two matches. He is followed in the ranking by Asian Cup of Nations Top Scorer Ali Mabkhout (UAE – Al Jazira Club), who scored 5 goals with his national team and by Ahmed Khalil also from UAE – Al Ahli Dubaï with 4 goals for his country and 1 for his club.

Within two months of the year, Asian and African Nations Cup were undergone, many friendlies and group stages of continental clubs in CONMEBOL, CONCACAF and AFC started in addition to UEFA clubs knockout stages. For continental club football, counting starts from the group stages (final 32 for UEFA, CONMEBOL and AFC, final 24 for CONCACAF and final 12 for OFC). CAF is the only exception as the group stage starts with the final 8 and goals are considered from the first stage (final 32). For Copa Sudamericana (no group stage), counting starts from final 32. FIFA Club World Cup, UEFA and CAF Super Cup and Recopa Sudamericana are also considered.

World Cup champion coach Joachim Löw of Germany has ended the Spanish domination with a massive victory in the IFFHS National Coach Award for 2014.

Experts from more than 60 countries world-wide had little hesitation in acclaiming Löw as the world’s best for the year, awarding him a massive 220 points, one of the biggest totals and margins since the IFFHS began the annual Awards in 1996.

Famed Spanish coach Vicente Del Bosque had previously dominated the national coach title with wins in 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013. Löw ,who has had three previoius placings in the poll, has performed meticulous work in his eight years at the helm of the German national team.

He has adjusted to a game philosophy based on the intelligence and the adaptation capacity of his players, giving a new and attractive image of German football.

Argentina coach Sabella and Holland’s Van Gaal took the minor placings mostly due to the performances of their teams in the World Cup in Brazil.

Other coaches such as Pinto (Costa Rica), Sampaoli (Chile) and Herrera (Mexico) also made significant advances in voting following great team performances in Brazil.

Multiple champion Vfl Wolfsburg has again run away from its opposition and defended its title to be voted by the IFFHS as the World’s Best Woman’s Club for 2014.

Wolfsburg has completed a sweep of championships in 2013 in winning the Bundesliga, the German Cup, the UEFA Champions League and the IFFHS crown.

Football experts from 60 countries around the World took part in the voting organised by the IFFHS, the third year of its annual elections for women’s football.

Wolfsburg gathered 189 points to win by 116 points and again relegated the 2012 winner and 2013 runner-up Olympique Lyon (73 points) to second place with American club Kansas City (48) claiming third.

The result did not come as a surprise as Wolfsburg dominated each competition it contested with an outstanding team which included the 2014 Goalkeeper of the Year in Almuth Schult and captain Nadine Kessler, who is the 2014 FIFA World Player, the 2014 UEFA Player and the 2014 IFFHS Playmaker.

The victory was even more convincing as the French team Olympique Lyon has been a standout performer in women’s football and has been in the world’s Top five for many years.

FC Kansas City, who came third, is the new USA Champion and had a highly successful season which was climaxed by winning the final against the favourite Seattle Reign.

Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti has broken a seven years drought to win the IFFHS 2014 Award as The World’s Best Club Coach.

Ancelotti had previously won the gold medal in 2007 with AC Milan but was a clear winner with Real Madrid in the final world-wide counting of the 18th IFFHS contest.

Under Ancelotti’s guidance, Real Madrid enjoyed a stellar year as winners of the UEFA Champions League and the FIFA World Championship.

Voting for the 2014 trophy was close with the three leading contestants receiving 90 percent of the vote. Ancelotti took first place (169 points), 30 ahead of Diego Simeone (139), the coach of Atletico de Madrid with Bayern München coach Josep Guardiola third on 76.

Simeone has made steady progress with Atletico since 2012, claiming the Spanish championship as well as being a finalist in the UEFA Champions League.

Guardiola, winner of this Award on 2009 and 2011 made a great comeback with Bayern München in taking third place, after the votings of experts from 60 countries from all continents.

Italian Serie A moves English Premier League from to the second place!

The world ranking for the strongest national leagues has been determined annually by the IFFHS since 1991 on the basis of all national (championship, FA Cup) and (inter)continental (confederations & FIFA club competitions) results of the clubs. This principle has proved to be a very sensitive and an objective indicator.

The Spanish Primera División retains the first place thank to the extraordinary performance in the year, so in domestic competitions as continental cups, of their four best clubs, Real Madrid CF, Club Atlético de Madrid, FC Barcelona and Sevilla FC. It is the fifth time in a row since 2010. Previously the Spanish Primera División has been The Strongest National League of the World in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2004. Primera División got a difference with more than 250 points from second place.

Italian Serie A got the second place and moved English Premier League to the third place. Both leagues were very close but the performance of Italian clubs in Europe was better than English clubs. Argentina’s Primera División was the best of South America and got the fourth place. It made that German Bundesliga got down two places from 2013. German best club, FC Bayern München is second in WCR, but the second best club is BV Borussia 09 Dortmund (25th placed in WCR) with a poor performance for the last leg in 2014.

France reteined theirs 2013 position (7th place) and kept in the best level legues. Portugal was so close to moved the Ligue 1, with SL Benfica Lisboa great performance. Colombian Primera A was again thethird South American league very close from Paraguay.

For other football continents, Mexican Primera División is the best for CONCACAF area, ahead of Costa Rica and USA. In Asia, the three best leagues kept their same places than 2013: Republic of Korea league was better closely than Saudi Arabia and Japan was third. In Africa Tunisia, Egypt, South Africa, who won the third place to Algeria. Maroc got down from third to sixth place. New Zeland, since Australia was in AFC, is the winner for OFC one more time.

Rising international player Toni Kroos continued Germany’s dominance of the annual IFFHS Awards in snatching a narrow victory as the 2014 World’s Best Playmaker. In a closely contested Battle, Kroos (110) won by two points from evergreen Lionel Messi with newcomer James Rodriguez (53) taking third place.

In the previous six years, the Award had been won by Barcelona players Xavi (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011) and Andrès Iniesta (2012, 2013) but voters from more than 60 countries were impressed by the performances of the 24 years old German.

Kroos, the ninth winner of the trophy, was a member of the German team which won the World Cup in Brazil as well as the German double of the Championship and Cup with Bayern München.

He then transferred in August 2014 to Real Madrid for another successful season culminating with victory in the FIFA Club World Championship.His performances were consistent and always at the top level by world standards to complete a highly successful year for the young playmaker.

Messi, with Barcelona and four times winner of the FIFA BALLON D’OR, had another superb season as a playmaker and scorer with team-mates such as Neymar or Luis Suarez.

He has well clear of third place placed Rodriguez, the 23 years old Colombian who also caught attention at the World Cup in Brazil. His transfer from Monaco to Real Madrid after a fantastic World Cup with Colombia, gave him the opportunity to show his talents world wide.

Yaya Touré (5th) once again showed why he has been the best African Playmaker for many years.

German players again took pride of place when Nadine Kessler and Lena Goessling were clear winners in the 2014 IFFHS Women’s Playmaker of the Year. Both play for the world’s top women’s club, VfL Wolfsburg, leader of the Bundesliga and two time consecutive Champions League winner, with Kessler edging ahead in the final count from experts in more than 60 world wide countries to poll 105 points from team-mate Goessling who finished with 97.

Third place went to Louisa Necib (37 points) who plays for the top Franch club Olympique Lyon. Brazil’s Marta had won the inaugural award 2012 and Goessling was the 2013 winner. But it was the 26 years old Kessler, the 2014 FIFA World Player and 2014 UEFA Player who proved the year’s big success.

The Trophy was a fitting tribute to Kessler, who was captain of the German national team and her world top-rated club VfL Wolfsburg. Kessler and Goessling partnered effectively to take Wolfsburg to win the German Bundesliga as well as strong performances in the European Champions League. They work very well together with Kessler scoring many important goals.

French National team player Necib (27 years) improved her position during the year after finishing fourth in 2013. She is an accomplished technician and is showing gradual improvement each year. Team-mate Camille Abily and Caroline Seger from Paris SG, two experienced players, complete the Top 5 ahead of the USA girls, Christen Press and Amy Rodriguez, who have more ambitions in the future.

Germany was further represented in the Top Ten by Dzsenifer Marozsan (1. FCC Frankfurt) who was voted in 8th place, after a third rating last year but at 22 years old, she still has a great future ahead.

Cristiano Ronaldo has successfully retained his IFFHS Top Goal Scorer Trophy after another season of scoring goals.

Ronaldo, after being named the UEFA Champions League Top Scorer with a record of 17 goals , the Pichichi Trophy and the European Soulier d’Or with 31 goals, ended 2014 by claiming the IFFHS Award with a total of 20 goals, five for Portugal and 15 for Real Madrid. The prolific striker had won the Award in 2013 with 25 goals and in holding his title he joined Lionel Messi (2011 and 2012) as the only players to win in successive years.

Three Spanish based players topped the voting with Ronaldo being joined by South Americans Neymar (Brazil) who finished second on 19 goals and Argentina’s Messi third on 18 goals. Both play for FC Barcelona. Neymar posted the highest number of national team goals with 15 while Ronaldo had the best club score with the same total.

A total of 54 players scored seven or more goals. The list consisted of 22 Europeans, 14 South Americans, 9 asians, 8 Africans and one from CONCACAF. Brazil holds the highest number of goal scorers with five players, followed by Colombia, Croatia, Germany and Netherlands with 3, Belgium, Chile, England, france, Philippines, Spain and Uruguay with 2.

In club football, 34 played in Europe, 12 in Asia, 5 in Africa and 3 in CONCACAF. FC Bayern München fielded the most with five players, followed by FC Barcelona, FC Porto and Real Madrid CF with three, and then Arsenal FC, FC Red Bull Salzburg, Manchester United FC, VfL Wolfsburg and Yangon United FC with two.

Since 1991 the IFFHS makes the CLUB WORLD RANKING with all the match results from all official competitions in the world. For the first time in the history of the Club World Ranking a German team, FC Bayern München, was the winner in 2013. But 2014 was the year of Real Madrid CF, large winner with 381 points !

The team coached by Carlos Ancelotti reached the best score ever in the CLUB WORLD RANKING, surpassing the former record by FC Juventus Torino with 372, 7 points in 1993 -when it was ancient rules-. Real Madrid won the international competitions UEFA’s Champions League, UEFA’s Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup and the domestic Copa del Rey.

The former winner, FC Bayern München got the second place as German Champion and German Cup winner, one year after the winning of all UEFA, FIFA and German competitions ! Club Atlético de Madrid, Spanish Primera Division Champion, could change the result of the ranking, but the team of Diego Simeone finished as third placed with a great performance. FC Barcelona got the fourfth place.

The first non-European team was Club Atlético Nacional SA de Medellin. The team coached by Juan Carlos Osorio had a long performance in South American competitions and won the Apertura 2014 Seria A in Colombia. CA River Plate Buenos Aires got again a place in top 10.

In the “Top 100″ there are clubs from 42 countries : 67 clubs from UEFA, 22 from CONMEBOL, six from AFC, three from CONCACAF, two from CAF and none from OFC. The following leagues are represented by the most clubs in the Top 100 :Spain (7), Argentina (7), Brazil (6), England (6), Germany (6), Italy (6), France (5). Under the global ranking, the Top 10 for each of the football continents, South America, Africa, Asia and CONCACAF and also the TOP 500 :

HOPE SOLO AND ALMUTH SCHULT ARE THE WORLD’S BEST WOMEN GOALKEEPERS 2014

American Hope Solo and young German Almuth Schult have shared top place to take the 2014 Award as The IFFHS World’s Best Woman Goalkeeper. Each scored 110 points in votes from editorial staff and experts from 60 countries around the world in the third running of the IFFHS annual election for the world’s best performers.

The 33 years old Hope Solo was seeking to make it three wins in succession to defend the titles she won in 2012 and 2013 but was forced into a tie with her ten years younger rival. It was the first time the Award had been shared by two contestants.

Hope Solo had a very good year with her club Seattle Reign which made the final of the NWSL against Kansas City and also with the USA National Team. She had to overcome private problems to continue as one of the leading personalities in women’s world football of the past five years.

Almuth Schult, a symbol of the future, is the number one keeper for the European Champions League winner and German Champion, VfL Wolfsburg. And she is also the successor of Nadine Angerer in the German National team.

In third place on 45 points was another German Nadine Angerer, who was the 2013 FIFA World Player of he Year. The much travelled Angerer has played for Brisbane Roar in the Australian W League and Portland Thorns in the USA.

Tinja-Riikka Korpela, the national goalkeeper of Finland, took a great fourth place for her performances with Tyresö FF (European Champions League finalist) and with Fc Bayern München, the new outsider in the Womens Bundesliga. Another steady performance came from fifth placed Sarah Bouhaddi (28), the goalkeeper for Olympique Lyon and the past five years for the French National team.